Growing Up Autistic: My Story

Editor's note: Trevor Pacelli was diagnosed with autism at age 5 and has had to deal with many of life's complexities in an entirely different light. Now 20, Pacelli attends college and has written a book. "Six-Word Lessons on Growing Up Autistic" was published in May 2012 and talks about the daily struggles of living with autism and raising an autistic child. Pacelli lives outside Seattle.

(CNN) -- Growing up as an autistic has never been easy.

Trevor Pacelli

At 5, I was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, or PDD-NOS, one of the five autism spectrum disorders. Those with PDD-NOS have difficulties in areas of social interaction and communication.